President Shimon Peres said Monday that the Jerusalem Mufti’s recent “Kill the Jews” statements “endanger the lives” of Jews and that action must be taken to prevent similar remarks, which he said can lead to a deterioration of relations between Jews and Arabs.

He met with Justice Minister Yaakov Ne’eman, who promised an investigation of the sermon by Mohammed Hussein.

The Muslim clerics said at a rally two weeks ago, “The hour of judgment will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind the stone and behind the tree. The stone and the tree will cry, ‘Oh Muslim, Oh Servant of God, this is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.’”

He since has said hew as not calling for the murder of Jews but simply was reading Muslim text that is traditionally attributed to the Prophet Mohammed.

Palestinian Authority religious affairs minister Mahmoud al-Habash also rejected any idea that the cleric was inciting Arabs against Jews and said, “we believe in peace.” He explained that the Mufti’s quote of the text was only referring to destiny.

Neither he nor Hussein explained the introduction of the cleric at the rally by a man who said, “Our war with the descendants of the apes and pigs is a war of religion and faith. Long live Fatah!.”